WordPress Guide For Beginners

How to create your own WordPress website in only a few simple steps…

In this WordPress tutorial, I will show you step by step how to build a professional website with WordPress.

The guide is for beginners and does not require any technical knowledge.

Here you will learn how to create a website without programmers and web designers – that you will be proud of. 🙂

At the same time, I’ll tell you my best shortcuts and tips that I had to learn laboriously over the past 20 years by working on the PC all night long…

Choose a web hosting provider

Choose a web host to host your website on

To install WordPress you need 2 things:

• A domain (website address such as: YourOwnDomainName.com)
• Web hosting (the server on which WordPress is installed.)

The WordPress software is free!

But a domain and hosting cost a few dollars a month. (3-5dollars per month)

With your own domain, your website has an individual internet address. That looks more professional – and doesn’t cost the world.

How do I find the best hosting provider?

There are about as many hosting providers as there is sand in the desert.

When I created my first website, I spent days looking for the best and cheapest web hosting. Today, I value my time far more than the few dollars I could save by doing endless research.

Also, cheap web hosting always has a catch. Either the service doesn’t fit or there are hidden costs somewhere that you only notice later.

Your time is precious. That’s why I’ll spare you a long web hosting comparison and recommend the provider that many WordPress experts in English-speaking countries recommend and that I also use for many websites myself.

My web hosting recommendation: Bluehost

Bluehost has the best value for money.

They have a professional support team that you can reach anytime via phone, live chat, or email.

The support people are well trained and know WordPress well. They can help you with most of the standard issues that might come up.

Compared to other hosting providers, this is not a matter of course and will save you a lot of trouble!

Good server performance gives you a fast website that is always accessible.

Bluehost makes it easy to install WordPress.

In the next step, I will now show you how to register with Bluehost and create a free account…

Sign up for Bluehost

Here’s how Bluehost lets you use WordPress for free

The provider Bluehost has everything you need for hosting your WordPress website.

And you can test the offer for 3 months completely risk-free.

If something doesn’t fit, you can always switch to another provider later.

Below I will show you step by step how to sign up with Bluehost:

Step 1: Visit Bluehost and choose a hosting plan

Visit >> Bluehost’s website << and choose one of the web hosting plans there.

I recommend at least the Basic package. You can upgrade at any time if you need more!

You also get a free SSL certificate with the Basic plan, which you absolutely need.

SSL is a security certificate and if you don’t have one, modern browsers will tell you that your website is not secure because the data is not transmitted in encrypted form.

Step 2: Choose your domain

Next, choose a domain name for your website.

Step 3: Enter your data

To order web hosting, you must now enter your personal data.

After all, Bluehost wants to know who they are dealing with.

You can easily pay for web hosting with your credit or debit card.

Here you have to fill in all information.

Now you can choose how long the term should be. You have the choice of whether you want to pay immediately for 12 months or 36 months. After the time has expired, the hosting will automatically renew (unless you cancel beforehand).

You don’t necessarily need the fields can. You can leave these fields blank if you don’t need them.

Now you have to create your login. Choose a good and strong password for your new hosting account!

Now click on “Create Your Website“. After that, all you have to do is fill in some information about the purpose of your website.

Now click on “Limitless customization” and “Get started” to begin the installation of your WordPress website.

In the next step, you have to choose a Theme for your new website. Choose a Theme that you like!

That’s it…

After choosing your theme, you can log into your WordPress dashboard and start editing your website.

Need more help setting up your website?

We have a full WordPress beginner course you can take. Click Here to visit the WordPress Course Website.

Edit website content

How to edit WordPress pages and insert content

We already have WordPress installed.

Now it will start to be really fun! 😎

In the following I will explain the basic functions of WordPress that you should know to operate your WordPress website.

The WordPress admin dashboard

If you go to your web address, you will see that a simple example website has already been installed. This is also called the WordPress front end. This is the public part of your website that is displayed to your visitors.

But the great thing about WordPress is that there is also a backend.

The WordPress backend is the WordPress administration interface that only you have access to.

In this admin area you can add text and images and design your website, even if you have no programming knowledge.

Because WordPress generates the programming code and all the functionality of the website for you.

How do I log into WordPress?

Simply append /wp-admin to your domain on which you have WordPress installed and you will be taken directly to the following login area.

So visit www.YourDomainName.com/wp-admin

In this login area you then enter the username and password that you selected when installing WordPress.

What if I forgot the WordPress password?

You will find the WordPress access data in the email from All-Inkl with the subject: “Access data for your WordPress software”.

Or click on “FORGOT PASSWORD?” under the login area of WordPress.

An email will then be sent to you to reset your password.

The WordPress start page in the admin area (dashboard)

In the following screenshot you can see the WordPress dashboard, the home page of the WP admin area.

The dashboard gives you a quick overview of your WordPress website.

The navigation bar is displayed on the left edge of the screen throughout the WordPress admin area.

Here you can insert the content of your website, change the design and navigation, install WordPress plugins and set basic settings.

I’ll explain how it all works in the next section.

But before that, I’ll show you the absolute basics of planning successful websites.

Because I know from some experience that website planning is a step you definitely shouldn’t skip…

Basics about planning your website

Please believe me: If you take a little time for the website planning at the beginning, you will save yourself a lot of effort and effort.

It’s best to grab a pen and paper. And answer at least the following questions:

• What do I want to achieve with the website? (site goals)
• Who do I want to address with the homepage? (Target group)
• What items go in the menu bar? (Structure & Navigation)
• What content do I want to publish? (content planning)

Create pages and insert texts

With a click on PAGES in the left bar of the admin area you will be shown all the pages that are currently available on your website.

Click “Add New” to add new pages.

The Gutenberg Editor

With the current version of WordPress, the Gutenberg editor is automatically installed.

This allows you to format text relatively easily.

This is what a page looks like in the Gutenberg editor:

Give your page a title, such as “About Me.”

Then enter the text of the page below.

You can easily format your texts.

If you highlight a word and then click the B icon above the text, that text will appear bold.

To create a link, you also mark a few words and then click on the link symbol.

How do I insert images into a page?

New images with blocks are added in the Gutenberg editor.

First click on the PLUS symbol next to the text box:

After that, different blocks will appear that you can add these blocks to your page.

Select the IMAGE block and then click on UPLOAD.

Then you choose the picture you want from your computer and it will be automatically saved on your website.

The images that you have previously uploaded to your WordPress website are displayed under LIBRARY.

Set image settings

When you highlight an item in the text – such as an image, settings and options that you can change will always appear to the right of the text.

For images, you can choose the image size.

And also set the alternative text (alt text) of the image. This text is especially important for the visually impaired and for search engines to understand the meaning of the image.

Publish Your Pages

When you have created the content of a page, click on the PUBLISH or UPDATE button in the top right – and your changes will be saved.

If you don’t want the content of the page to be public already, click SAVE DRAFT instead.

Add pages to navigation

You can change the links in the navigation menu under DESIGN -> MENUS.

Enter a name for the menu and click CREATE MENU.

Then you can add pages to the menu and choose where in the WordPress theme you want the navigation menu to appear.

Create and edit posts

If you’re going to embed a blog on your site, the next thing you’ll want to do is create a new blog post.

To do this, click on POSTS > Add New in the left menu.

You can edit the content in the same way as with the PAGES.

But there are a few more features for posts.

Among other things, you can assign posts to categories by ticking the desired category.

What are posts?

Posts are articles on your blog.

On your Blog Page, each post is displayed one at a time and tagged with the date.

A blog is something like a diary. Of course, you can use this blog feature in many different ways.

This post here is also a blog article.

In contrast, pages in WordPress are static pages.

For example, a page can be your home page, your about me page, or your contact page.

Set up WordPress website

This is how you can set up and optimize WordPress

In this section I will now show you how you can configure WordPress and where you can find the most important settings.

Set WordPress home page

By default, your site’s home page displays your blog posts.

However, you can also set a static page that you have created as your homepage.

To do this, click on SETTINGS -> READING.

Select the “a static page” option.

Then you can set the start page under “Homepage”:

Change page title and subtitle

Under SETTINGS -> GENERAL you change the title and subtitle of your website.

The title is the name of the website and the subtitle is basically your tagline. This subtitle briefly explains what your website is about.

Disable comments

Prefer not to allow visitors to leave comments below posts and pages?

To disable this feature site-wide, click SETTINGS > DISCUSSION.

There you can then switch the comment function on or off.

Customize blog sidebar (widgets)

Some WP themes have a sidebar on the left or right.

Under Appearance ->WIDGETS you can customize what information appears in the sidebar.

Since WordPress 5.8 the content of the widgets can be changed in the Gutenberg editor.

How can I remove widgets?

Some widgets are already included in the default WordPress installation.

To remove them, just click on them.

Then click on the SELECT GROUP icon. (the two intersecting rectangles)

Then press delete on your keyboard to delete the widget.

If you want to add new content to the sidebar, click the + icon in the bottom right.

Extend WordPress with plugins

Extend the functionality of WordPress with additional plugins

WordPress plugins are similar to the apps on the smartphone.

You can use them to add countless functions to your WordPress website. And they can be installed or deleted as required.

For example, you can use WP plugins to add a contact form to your website.

But there are also plugins for image galleries, newsletter submission forms, search engine optimization and all other possible functions.

You should keep this in mind with WordPress plugins

It is very important that you only install plugins from reputable developers who are also regularly updated.

Poorly programmed plugins are often a security risk. Any security gaps that may arise can only be closed with regular updates.

Please also delete the plugins that you don’t really need. Because too many plugins have a negative effect on the performance of your website.

I’m about to show you some recommended free WordPress plugins that I also use myself.

But first, I’ll explain how to install WordPress plugins:

Install WordPress plugins

Installing plugins is just as easy as installing themes.

Click on PLUGINS -> INSTALL.

Then enter the name of the plugin under “Search for plugins”.

Then click on the INSTALL button. Then the plugin will be downloaded and installed automatically.

Now all you have to do is click on ACTIVATE and you can start using the plugin.

Secure WordPress and protect it from hackers

WordPress security is a topic that you should definitely not neglect.

Unfortunately, because WordPress is the most popular content management system, it is also often the target of spam robots.

Therefore, it is especially important that you update all WordPress plugins regularly.

I also recommend setting up automatic backups. Because if something happens, you can use it to undo everything as if by magic. And then you will be enormously grateful for it.

Design website with WP themes

How to create beautiful layouts without programming knowledge

With the WordPress content management system, you can design a beautiful website even if you’re not a graphic designer or programmer.

This is made possible with integrated design templates – also known as WordPress themes.

Web design with WordPress themes

You can easily install and customize WordPress themes with just a few clicks.

In my opinion, paid premium themes in particular are the key to a professional website if you are a beginner and have not often created a website.

Because they allow you to start with an optimized template. And then you just have to adjust them.

Below I explain how you can install free themes from the WordPress dashboard.

Install WordPress theme

In the left column of the WordPress dashboard, click on Appearance -> THEMES.

By clicking on the “ADD New” button you will be redirected to the page where you can search for new free themes.

In the following bar you can either search for themes with keywords…

… or you can click FILTER BY FEATURES and use this to narrow down the display to themes that have specific features that you would like your website to have.

My free WP theme recommendation

I recommend the free WordPress theme Astra to start with.

To install this theme, enter “Astra” in the search field.

With a click on the INSTALL button, your new WordPress theme will then be installed.

Then click on ACTIVATE.

And your homepage will appear in the new layout without your texts and settings being changed.

Install starter templates

The great thing about Astra is that it lets you install complete website templates with just one click.

After installing Astra, you will be guided through the setup with a wizard and there you can choose any design you like.

Then you’ll be presented with tons of website templates:

>> Here you can see all free available theme designs <<

If you click on one of the design templates, a preview will open so you can try out the starter template.

In the left bar you can change the colors and fonts. This also shows what WordPress plugins this starter template requires.

A full import of a starter template will overwrite many WordPress settings and the navigation menus.

You should therefore only do it for new WordPress websites that have not yet been customized.

Customize the theme with the customizer

The Theme Customizer allows you to customize the colors, fonts, and layout of your WP theme.

To do this, simply click on Appearance > CUSTOMIZE

Then the following page will open. In the left column you can select the various setting options.

The layout options available depend on the WordPress theme you are using.

When you’re done, click the PUBLISH button in the top left to save the changes.

The best free WordPress themes

I recommend the free WordPress themes to start with: Kadence, GeneratePress, Astra, and OceanWP.

These are really good templates that are programmed cleanly, load really quickly and are very easy to use.

These themes are free. But the providers also offer a paid version with additional functions.

If you want to save yourself a lot of time and nerves when creating your website, then there is something else that makes building beautiful websites incredibly easy for you.

The shortcut to a beautiful website

When I started creating websites 20 years ago, I still had to learn to program.

Then WordPress came along and made building a website faster and easier than ever.

But creating beautiful layouts was still very difficult with WordPress for a long time if you couldn’t program CSS …

At least it was until premium themes with visual page builders revolutionized web design.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions about creating a website with WordPress

Here you will find answers to the most frequently asked questions about building a website with WordPress: